


But I'm a Jock

by hmmhmmhmm



Category: High School Story (Video Game), High School Story (Visual Novel)
Genre: (Both of those are mostly from Mr. Warren), Eating Disorders, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, From what's known about Mr. Warren he isn't a great dad (or a great person), I'm sure he cares about his but uh... he's got a shit way of showing it, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Minor Internalized Homophobia, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, i don't delve in too deep with that but it's still there, minor biphobia, minor homophobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 05:58:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17698940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmmhmmhmm/pseuds/hmmhmmhmm
Summary: He excels in school (except for science) and sports; he's the good-looking, popular football player, and his girlfriend is the equally popular captain of the cheerleaders.(So why doesn't he feel more than friendship for her?)





	But I'm a Jock

**Author's Note:**

> The title's a reference to But I'm a Cheerleader, but there's absolutely no conversion therapy/camps in this story.
> 
> There's a couple of minor elements from the HSS storyline from Choices, but it's pretty much just the names of the high school and the town. Other than that, this is pretty much based off of the standalone HSS game. Also the timeline is a little off from what's canon, but oh well.
> 
> And as someone who grew up in an abusive and controlling environment for a part of my childhood, I'm actually really fond of Mia and Max. Of course, this isn't to excuse any of shitty things Max does throughout HSS, but I can understand the need to have some form of acceptance from the person causing the abuse or just lashing out, and going to great lengths for both (or either) of those. Although the abuse Max and Mia experience differs a lot; with Mia, it's a lot more obvious what's happening, just by the way their dad treats her, but with Max it's a lot more subtle and manipulative. And there's also quite a bit of neglect going on too for the both of them.

The wedding happens in some second rate vineyard the summer before he starts his Freshman year of high school. 

He wishes that the ceremony was facing the sunset instead of away, because at least then he could put on his sunglasses and pretend to be paying attention, although, shuffled away in the near back of the crowd means no one’s really paying attention to a couple of blonde kids anyway.

It’s weird, seeing their mom getting married to someone who isn’t their dad, and awkward, because the guy has been trying for _months_ to be on good terms with him and Mia, but neither of them have been too interested in getting to know What’s-His-Name. Just because he’s marrying their mom doesn’t mean they actually like or approve of him; Max is still half-convinced that the guy is just a rebound that’s gone on for way too long and that this whole thing will end in divorce too.

So yeah, it’s weird and awkward and _painful;_ it hurts to see their mom smiling and being happy with some rando, like everything’s fine when it’s not.

Hell, Max didn’t even want to come, but Mia was adamant about going even though she’s been furious and hurting the most – the divorce hit Max the hardest. It was mom basically handing over full custody to dad that cut Mia deep – and there was no way Max was going to let Mia go to this by herself. Not with how tightly she squeezes his arm, nails digging in a little too painfully, and the way her jaw sets like she’s the one in physical pain. 

Besides, it’s not like their dad would have come with Mia if Max hadn’t, so really, it’s for the best that Max is here even if he really, _really_ doesn’t want to be.

When the rings are exchanged it feels final, like, _‘this is it, no take backs or bowing out, this is for real’_ and Max looks away from it, looks over at Mia to see how she’s handling this.

There’s the notorious Warren Stone Face that they’ve both inherited from their dad – a blank smile that doesn’t reach the eyes and looks colder than an iceberg – but Mia’s eyes are too shiny and red rimmed when everyone around them applauds as the officiant tells good ol’ What’s-His-Name that he can now suck face with their mom. To anyone else, it would look like Mia is maybe overwhelmed with joy, but Max knows it’s actually barely restrained fury.

“So that’s it,” Mia says, barely above a whisper that Max strains to hear over the noise around them.

“Yeah, it is,” he agrees and pointedly doesn’t look at their mom and her new husband as they come back down the aisle.

Because it is. 

This really is _it._

Their family got thrown into turmoil and that’s it; their mom left, met someone else, and now they’ll see her every other weekend and on major holidays like nothing’s wrong, like this is all normal.

But it’s not and his sister is trying to not cry.

Eyeing the crowd around them, Max leans in to whisper, “How much do you wanna bet that someone here will cause a scene before they cut the cake? ‘Cause my money’s on that guy over there with the weird mustache, especially if we grease the dance floor.”

And that gets Mia laughing, though she has to stifle it when a couple of uptight old ladies give them disproving looks for being seen _and_ heard instead of seen and not heard.

“Grease the dance floor? Really?” And there’s a crack in the Warren Stone Face, a tiny, _real_ smile and Max will take what he can get; he’ll make this wedding into a good memory for Mia, even at the expense of someone else.

“You say that like we won’t get away with it,” Max responds with a smirk and finally stands to head to the reception like everyone else, with Mia next to him and not looking as fragile as she had this morning, like she had only moments ago.

\---

At least ten people slip on the dance floor and it’s the happiest Max has seen Mia since their parents announced they were getting a divorce.

\---

“Are you going to join the football team?” Kara asks on the first day of high school.

Max rolls his eyes at his best friend on their way to First Period – English 9 with Ms. Baxter. “Is the sky blue?”

His dad had made it very clear that it was expected of Max to join a sport and well, he’s always enjoyed football, not to mention he had been on the middle school football team too.

Football is one of the things he knows he’s good at – amazing, even – so he would’ve joined the team anyway, even without his dad’s order disguised as a suggestion.

(He likes basketball better, but that wouldn’t fly, not unless there was football too.)

Kara swats at him with a muttered, yet fond, _“Smart ass,”_ and follows him as he weaves through the crowded halls of Hearst High; one of the perks to having the principal as his dad is that Max already knows the layout of the school like the back of his hand and won’t get lost like the other Freshmen milling about in confusion.

Max grins at Kara; it’ll be a cakewalk becoming the top of the food chain here.

Because if you’re not the best, then what’s the point?

\---

Surprisingly, Max gets over the obvious absence in their family pretty quickly; juggling football, his grades (which actually isn’t that much of a worry for him, not since that nerd Nishan started doing Max’s Biology homework in exchange for protection from bullies), and clawing his way to the top with Kara has left him busy.

Almost too busy to notice that Mia hasn’t really been able to move on from it, which makes sense. Mia was always closer to their mom than Max was, and it doesn’t help that their dad has become kind of… distant with Mia. Sure he cares about them both, but it’s no secret that their dad has never really known how to deal with Mia; they’re too much alike in a lot of ways, too similar to not get on each other’s nerves from time to time.

Sure, Max and Mia both have their dad’s temper and competitiveness, but Mia’s the one who has his mean streak, more so than Max does, anyhow.

So Max starts letting Mia tag along with him whenever he and Kara hang out; Kara doesn’t seem to mind too much and the two of them seem to get along pretty well after a while.

And it’s a good thing too, because about half way through the school year, a little after winter break is over, Max starts to notice that something’s… off. 

Yeah, Mia’s put on a little bit of weight, but from what Max remembers from Health class, that’s normal. That’s just the body’s hormones freaking out because of puberty or something, so weight fluctuation is to be expected. And even if it wasn’t, so what? A few extra pounds never hurt anybody.

Except it’s hurting Mia, because she’s always been sensitive about her appearance and Middle schoolers have always been meaner than High schoolers, so once you show any kind of insecurity they latch on like leeches.

The thing about leeches, as Max has learned from all the time he spends out in the nature preserve, is that all it takes is a bit of salt to get them to detach.

And Middle schoolers are a lot like leeches; a little bit of salt and they let go.

\---

Max asks Kara out in March.

She’s his best friend and they get along really well and it is what’s expected of him.

“No girlfriend yet?” his dad asks one night during dinner, in that _‘I expect better of you, you’re a_ Warren, _damn it,’_ tone of his. There’s probably a better way to describe that tone, one that’s less wordy, but hell if Max knows it.

It’s just him and Max – Mia’s begged off again, saying that she was still full from lunch – but Max knows what his dad means by that, because his dad isn’t one for small talk. Ever. 

So he takes the hint and starts dating Kara, because being with Kara is easy; there’s no need to impress her or do any of that awkward _‘getting to know you’_ conversation, and their relationship doesn’t really change except that now they kiss and hold hands sometimes.

Plus, they’re both at the top of the Freshmen social hierarchy, the King and Queen, and they’re both from well off families.

So it just… makes _sense,_ even if it doesn’t quite feel like it.

Even if he doesn’t see fireworks when they kiss, or feel sparks when their fingers lace together, like he always thought was supposed to happen.

\---

People talk. 

A lot.

It doesn’t bother Max; usually it’s just gossip, or jealousy because he’s a Freshman on the Varsity team. And yeah, he’ll admit it’s mostly because his dad is the principal, but why _shouldn’t_ Max use the connections he has? It’s not _his_ fault that other people weren’t born into the same opportunities as him.

Besides, Max is fucking _fantastic_ at football, so it really would’ve only been a matter of time before he got on the team anyway. 

He’s just on the fast track is all.

Not his fault if Julian hates him for it.

So yeah, people talk and that’s not what pisses him off. What _does_ piss him off is when someone steps out of line, when someone gets an idea in their head that they can talk trash about Max in front of other people, because then it gets other people thinking that they can just mouth off to him without consequence.

He’s worked too hard to be King just to have his throne usurped by some nobody with anger management issues.

Kara rolls her eyes at him as he paces in her room after school, fuming about Julian’s latest disrespect.

“I don’t see why you don’t just have him benched,” Kara says, flipping her ponytail back, and Max stops in his tracks.

Bench him, of course!

“Have I ever told you how much I love that big, beautiful brain of yours?” Max grins at Kara because she’s a _genius._

 _This_ is why they get along so well, why they’ve been best friends since Mr. Jensen’s third grade class when Max put gum in some kid’s hair and Kara covered for him by saying someone else did it.

“Not recently, no. But you should say it more often.”

\---

Towards the end of May, the day after summer vacation starts, Mia collapses.

So now, Max is sitting by his sister’s hospital bed while their parents talk with the doctor out in the hall.

Mia looks so pale and small and Max can’t believe he didn’t notice sooner; sure, he knew she had been skipping dinner a little more often, exercising like crazy, but he didn’t think much of it. He should’ve put two and two together a lot sooner, because when he looks back on it, there were a _lot_ of signs that something wasn’t right.

Bulimia Nervosa, the doctor had called it, and had showed them a list of common symptoms. Guilt roiled in his stomach as he read it and recognized a lot of those behaviors in Mia.

Food in the fridge and pantry went missing in large quantities at regular intervals, almost like clockwork. Skipped meals, or ridiculously tiny portions when she did eat. Mia had developed a strong aversion to eating in public; she stopped splitting an order of wings and fries from that greasy spoon diner down on 6th when they needed to get away from their mom and her husband on the weekends they spent with them.

And that’s not even the half of it; she was cold all the time, always wearing layers at home to keep warm, and there was more than one occasion he found her up late watching TV in the den, not really paying attention to what was on.

The signs were all there and he didn’t even _care_ enough to notice, too busy wrapped up in his own problems that seem meaningless in comparison to this.

His baby sister could’ve _died_ from this, something that he could’ve prevented if he had just been _paying attention._

Max isn’t one for crying – that’s too much of a weakness – but man does he really feel like doing it now; it feels like he just got sucker punched but there’s no one for him to fight back against, not really.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asks without even really thinking about it, and nearly flinches at how his voice sounds as small as Mia looks.

One shoulder twitches, a barely there shrug as Mia continues to gaze listlessly out the window of the private hospital room.

“Was it those idiots from school? Were they bugging you again?” Max continues, desperate for some kind of answer, a _reason_ why Mia would do this to herself. Sure, she’s always been a bit sensitive about her body image, but Max never thought it could be this bad. “Because if they were—”

“Just leave it alone, Max,” she cuts him off quietly and his mouth snaps shut.

They sit there in silence, watching the sun inch across the summer sky and ignoring the familiar sound of their parents arguing that’s muffled by the closed door.

Max closes his eyes and leans his head against the wall behind him. If it weren’t for the hospital setting and sour silence between them, it felt like life before the divorce.

\---

By July Mia’s doing better; Max has no clue what the doctors said to her, but she’s been eating again.

But there’s still a nagging feeling in the back of his mind.

He chalks it up to guilt, but he keeps an eye out anyway.

There’s no way Max is going to let this happen again, not when he can pay attention for any signs of a lapse in her recovery. He’s just happy that Mia is only a year younger than him, because this coming September they’ll be in the same school again, which means he can make sure no one makes her feel bad about how she looks; he and Kara are already at the top, the popular of the popular, so it’ll be the easiest thing to make sure Mia’s at the top with them.

\---

Their dad is furious, in that quiet, restrained way of his. Max doesn’t think he’s seen dad this angry since mom announced that she was getting remarried.

Apparently there’s a new school opening up not too far from Hearst High; it’s not even a threat really, just a tiny blip on the radar, a small, annoying bump in the road.

“It’s bad enough having to deal with Athena Academy and that Twin Branches school, but this new upstart won’t last,” his dad tells him one night after dinner when Max asks about it. “There are plans for that land; once it becomes clear that they can’t get the required minimum amount of students it will be shut down. It’s only a matter of time.”

\---

His dad may not have said anything in particular, but he _had_ pointedly mentioned that new school’s (Oliver M. Berry High. Who the hell is _Oliver M. Berry,_ and how’d he get a school named after him?) registration day and Max got the message loud and clear.

Disappointment and failure aren’t things allowed in the Warren family; make a couple of students feel unwelcome and they’ll start thinking that they chose the wrong school to go to.

Kara huffs as they loiter in the school’s parking lot, but she doesn’t complain and just scrolls through her phone while they wait.

They don’t have to wait long when a small group of three kids their age walk towards them, one of them seems vaguely familiar.

“So, Loser High got its first losers,” Max jeers at them; the nerdy looking girl scowls and the redheaded guy frowns slightly, while the familiar looking girl fidgets a little nervously when Kara looks up from her phone.

(The redhead keeps drawing his attention, his gaze catching on the broad shoulders and the lanky limbs the guy hasn’t quite grown into yet; Max is ignoring how he keeps staring at Red, even though he’s trying not to.)

“And look, Little Miss Quirkface is already over here. I always knew Autumn was a dork, but I never thought she was a traitor...” Kara adds.

The nerd looks pissed, her scowl deepening. “Hey, back off! What do you have against our school, anyway?”

“There’s a plan for this land, and it doesn’t involve your crappy school!” Max sneers back at her, taking a step forward to get in her face and she does the same, clearly looking for a fight (which Max has to give her a bit of credit; she’s ballsy for a nerd), but the redhead steps in between them.

“I don’t know who you two think you are, but you can’t just go around bullying people,” the guy tells him and Max wants to laugh, because who does _this_ guy think _he_ is? No one tells a Warren what to do and if he has to learn it the hard way, well…

“What are you going to do about it?” Max gets up in his face, egging him on because at this point Max is ready for a fight, wants to start throwing punches.

But then the guy looks at him in a way that makes Max’s pulse race in a weird, unfamiliar way and—

“I don’t know, big guy… what do you _want_ me to do?”

That draws Max up short and all thoughts of fighting are gone.

“Are… are you hitting on me?”

The guy doesn’t answer, just smiles and winks at him, and Max’s ears burn as his heart thumps a little too hard against his ribs and he is _not flustered._

“Uh, hello? Are you hitting on my boyfriend _right in front of me?”_ Kara asks incredulously and Red just shrugs with an unrepentant grin which makes Kara scoff. “Come on, Max. Let’s get out of here. I’ve had enough of these people.”

When she tugs his sleeve, it’s enough to break him out of his daze, but his heart is still beating oddly. 

“Enjoy your crappy school while you can, loser. Because it’s _not_ going to be around long,” Max manages to get out without stumbling over his words which is ridiculous because he’s never been like this; the only time he’s ever come close to this is three summers ago when he and Kara got drunk on that expensive bottle of whisky that her uncle had left behind, and it’s still not quite how he’d describe what he’s feeling.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

There’s a small spark of vindictive glee when he informs the guy about the minimum required students that all schools in the city are subject to.

But when he and Kara leave, Max can’t get that flirtatious smirk out of his head and ignores how his palms sweat a bit and the way his chest feels way too jittery.

\---

He finds out later that the redhead’s name is Reed.

Reed. Red. Max could make a joke out of that if he really wanted to, if he still wasn’t feeling a little bit mixed up about it.


End file.
